Upcoming Meetings

Is Facilities Management Strategic? What does it mean to be a strategic business resource?

Those questions are crucial to the future of the Facilities Management (FM) profession.

Please contribute to an important conversation and research project addressing the current state of the FM profession by helping to answer those questions. If you are an FM professional I invite you to participate in a brief global online survey about your FM organization and its current role and relationships, as well as your views about current challenges and opportunities for FM leaders.

The survey includes just 15 questions and will take less than 15 minutes of your time. Click here to complete the survey:

This survey represents an important opportunity for you to contribute to a global conversation about the emerging strategic impact of facilities management. If you complete the survey, we will be happy to send you a summary of our findings once the study is completed.

We are also interviewing selected senior FM executives and professionals as part of this project. If you are an FM practitioner who has tackled a strategic project for your organization, we would like to interview you; please contact me directly at my Occupiers Journal email address: jim.ware@occupiersjournal.com, to volunteer your story.

One more thing: fellow Occupiers Journal director Paul Carder and I will discuss the project and offer preliminary findings at education session 7.03 at World Workplace in San Diego, California, on Friday morning, 7 October. Hope to see you there!

Corenet Summit Orlando is underway! MCR classes are in full swing, the Expo is being set up, and the halls are full of veterans and newbies as we all wend our way from the hotel (Marriott World Center) down to the Conference Center (only a mile or so away!)

Way, way around the corner!

I flew east from San Francisco to Orlando yesterday, coincidentally sitting next to Terry Wood, VP of CRE/FM at JDSU and President of the Northern California Chapter. We had a wonderful re-connection conversation (when we weren’t both sleeping or reading – or at work typing away in our 30,000 ft+ mobile workplace in the sky).

I’ve already seen many old friends – Rachel Permuth-Levine ( Sodexo) and I rode in together from the airport, and she and Kevin Rettle treated me to dinner with several of their Sodexo colleagues. This morning I’ve bumped into, among others, OJL regional partner Jose Luis Sanchez-Concha of 3g Office, Ellen Keable of Jacobs Engineering, Patrick Donnelly of BDHP, Kay Sargent of Teknion, and Craig Youst of Red Hat. Also Tim Venable and Kathy Godwin of Corenet Global staff – good folks who are the powers behind the scenes that make programs like this Summit look so effortless.

Everyone is excited about the Summit, which begins later today with a “block party” outside the hotel and featuring a whole bevy of food trucks (!).

The formal opening is Monday morning, with Keynote Speaker Bill Benjamin on “Leadership 2.0: The Science Behind Great Leaders.” I know it’s going to be enlightening and motivatiing.

If you can’t be here in Orlando, be sure to follow along here as I live-blog about the events as they unfold, and follow me on twitter (@jpwoccupiers and @thefutureofwork)

And don’t forget that you can also follow many of the Summit events “live” and online with Summit Connect. Sign in here:

I will be attending the fall Corenet Summit in Orlando – primarily as a press representative. No formal leadership activities currently planned, but that can always change!

Looks like another outstanding and thought-provoking program. Featured speakers include Bill Benjamin and Kelly McDonald, plus some great educational sessions and many networking opportunities. I’m making the tough choices this week about what which sessions to attend.

I am really looking forward to another great learning experience and to renewing friendships with many very special people.

Where else could you spend two days at Cornell University (my own alma mater) in beautiful upstate New York in the fall (best time of the year there, by far), in conversation with 150 really smart people who together are going to define the workplace of the future?

Although the Summit is open to all, space is limited, so now is the time to register for a chance to learn from experts like:

DEGW Founder and pioneer Frank Duffy;

Professor Frank Becker of Cornell;

MIT Professor Michael Joroff;

Professor Alexi Marmot of University College, London;

Philip Ross of Unwired Ventures and the WorkTech programs;

Noborru Kono, Professor at Kyoto Institute of Technology;

Researcher Susan Stucky of IBM; and

Warwick Johnson of Brookfield Multiplex.

This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime gathering of the thought leaders and practitioners who created the work environments we inhabit today, and who are gathering to identify the key trends and discontinuities that will define the workplace of the future.

You need to be there. It’s happening in Ithaca, New York, on September 5-7. Register now, while there is still room, at this link:

http://www.ifmafoundation.org/summit/register/

You can read about the Summit, the speakers, and the topics at this link:

I’m at Oakland airport, on my way the Corenet Summit in San Diego. This is my trip in over 20 years without my trusty laptop – am going “commando” with only my iPad and iPhone. Mildly nervous about it, but looking forward to living the mobile life.

It should be a great meeting too – kicking off with John Kao Monday morning, then many sessions devoted to unveiling CRE2020, the new Corenet vision of the future of our profession.

The opening keynote speaker at the Corenet Summit in San Diego will be John Kao. He is an expert on innovation and creativity – used to teach at Harvard Business School. I’m really looking forward to hearing him speak – after all, creating workplaces that not only enable but actually encourage and enhance creativity has to be one of the primary objectives of any CRE or FM professional.

I will be attending the Summit in San Diego on April 29-May 1 as a press representative, in my role as Global Research Director for Occupiers Journal.

The Summit program looks exciting and timely. I’ll be blogging and tweeting about it from San Diego – will post reports both here and on the Future of Work…unlimited blog. I also have two twitter accounts I will be using to report on the Global Summit news:

Marcus Bowen will be attending the Corenet Global Summit in Singapore next week (27-29 March). He’d love to meet any and all occupiers, tell you about our latest research project, and hear about what you are up to

And I (Jim Ware) just registered for the Corenet Global Summit in San Diego on April 29-May 1. I want to do the same; I’m currently leading our glboal research effort right now, called “Raising the Bar: Enhancing the Strategic Role of FM.” Look for more details about the study in a future blog post, and ask me about it when I see you.

Actually I will be attending the San Diego Summit primarily as a press representative, in my role as Global Research Director for Occupiers Journal.

The San Diego program looks exciting and timely. I’ll be blogging and tweeting about it on site – will post reports both here and on my own Future of Work…unlimited blog. I also have two twitter accounts I will be using to report on the Global Summit and other news: